Douglas Lammings' An
English Football Internationalist Who's Who [1990] & FindMyPast.com

Club Career

Club(s)

He was spotted by West Ham United FC coach John
Lyall when he was 12, and signed for the Hammers as a YTS trainee at 14. On
18 July 1985 he signed professional terms. He went onto play 72
league appearances, scoring seven goals. On 14 September 1989, he moved to Manchester
United FC for �1 million, and the self-titled Guv'nor would play
206 league matches, scoring 24. Internazionale Milano FC paid �8 million for Ince
on 13 July 1995. Professionally, his
time at Milan was highly successful, playing 54 league matches,
scoring ten times, and he returned to England on 22 July 1997 to
join Liverpool for �4.2 million. He was appointed captain.
He played 65 Premiership matches, scoring fourteen goals.
He joined Middlesbrough FC for �1 million, playing 93 Premiership
matches, scoring seven. Ince then joined Wolverhampton Wanderers
FC on a free transfer on 6 August 2002. He played 115 league
matches, scoring ten. After failing to win a new contract at
Wolves, Ince joined Swindon Town AFC on 31 August 2006 as a player-coach,
playing just three times in the league. After leaving the
club several weeks later, Ince joined Macclesfield Town AFC as
player-manager, unable to play until January 2007, he played just
the once (5th May 2007 vs. Notts County FC) before finally hanging
up his boots to concentrate on his managerial duties.

Premier League Player of the Month October 1994;
PFA Premier League Team of the Year 1992-93, 1993-94, 1994-95;
Premier League Team of the Decade 1992-2002

Distinctions

x

Source

Douglas Lammings' An English
Football Internationalist Who's Who [1990].

Managerial Career

Club(s)

Ince was appointed player manager of Macclesfield Town FC on 23
October 2006, they were seven points adrift at the bottom of League Two.
They avoided relegation. On 25 June 2007, Ince was appointed as the new
manager of MK Dons FC. After a successful season, Ince became the first
British black manager in the top division of English football when, on 22
June 2008, Ince was appointed manager of Blackburn Rovers FC. He was
consequently sacked on 16 December 2008 after winning just six games in 21
attempts. Ince returned to MK Dons FC on 3 July 2009, but it was a
less successful stint, and on 28 October 2010, he took the managerial job
at Notts County FC, a job he held until County lost nine matches in a row,
on 3 April 2011.

Club honours

Football League Trophy winners 2007-08, Football League
Two winners 2007-08;

Individual honours

League Two Manager of the Month December 2006, October 2007,
December 2007, April 2008.

Became the England captain on winning his seventh cap.
Alo the first black captain of the national team.

Beyond England

x. - Various Media

Paul Ince - Career Statistics

Squads

Apps

Comp.
Apps

Starts

Sub on

Sub off

Mins.

Goals

Goals
Av.min

Comp.
Goals

Capt.

Disc.

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

-
min

-

-

None

Due to the fact that
many matches rarely stuck to exactly ninety minutes long, allowing time
for injuries, errors and substitutions. The minutes here
given can only ever be a guideline and cannot therefore be accurate, only
an approximation.

As the first
black player to captain his country, Paul Ince rightly regards himself as
having played a pioneering role in history of the game.
When he led out England against the USA in Boston in 1993, Ince was
fulfilling more than just a boyhood ambition and achieving much more than
a personal career milestone.In pulling on the captain's armband, Ince broke down one of football's
most shameful barriers and paved the way for a generation of young black
men to realise their dreams of becoming professional players.
But 14 years on from that seminal episode in his illustrious career, Ince
is appalled that, while black players form an integral part of modern
English football, the Premiership cannot boast one black English boss.
It is why Ince has made it his personal crusade who became the this country's
first black Premiership boss and why he chose the eve of his Macclesfield
side's glamour FA Cup tie with Chelsea to reveal his dismay at the current
situation.

"When I became captain of England people said it was responsible for a lot
of black kids in the ghetto starting to play football. I was
regarded as some sort of figurehead for black people to get into football.
So it's strange there are no black managers in the Premiership,
particularly when people like Ian Wright and Les Ferdinand were such great
players. Wrighty and Les have gone into TV, but I've spoken to them
loads of times and said that when you've had such great careers you have
to put something back into the game. I just feel that maybe I'm the
one to take it on, who became the that first black Premiership manager.
There's Keith Alexander and Leroy Rosenior who have tried it in the lower
leagues. Keith got into the play-offs three times but no-one has
been prepared to give him the chance to go higher and I can't understand
why. Hopefully I can change that. If I keep performing the way
I have started here then in another four or five years may they will have
no choice but to say 'yes'."

Alexander, currently the only other black manager in England, has been
ignored by many clubs and Ince said: "He's at Peterborough now but look at
his great work at Lincoln. No one would give him a chance to go to
the next level. But his record is second to none in getting teams
into promotion play-offs. You wonder why and the only conclusion you can
reach is that it's because of his colour. It's strange that all the
great black British players from the past have just disappeared. It would
be lovely if I could break that mould. I was the first black captain
England ever had, and becoming the first black English Premiership manager
would be another milestone."

Ince has been out of the limelight since his glory days with West Ham,
Manchester United, Inter Milan, Liverpool and England, but he will be the
centre of attention once again during Macclesfield's dream third round tie
at Stamford Bridge.
In a little over two months, the 39-year-old has performed a minor miracle
at the struggling League Two side.
When Ince took over in October, Macclesfield were bottom of the table,
seven points adrift of safety, 92nd in the Football League. But in that
time Ince has transformed the club's fortunes.
Macclesfield had not won in their first 17 fixtures of the season, but
under Ince they have hauled themselves off the foot of the table and are
unbeaten in their last 10 games.
As a United star he was on the receiving end of Sir Alex Ferguson's
infamous "hairdryer" treatment, but Ince has a more gentle way of coaxing
the best out of his own players. I don't think you can bollock lads
any more because the football culture has changed. The lads here are
so passionate about their football. They've got mouths to feed, they don't
get paid a lot of money, but they come in every day and work their nuts
off. You've got to make them believe they are the greatest player in
the world, and if you can do that you can go on a good run like we've
done."

The eyes of the football world may be on Macclesfield and their unlikely
attempt to cause the biggest FA Cup upset of all time, but Ince knows that
once tomorrow is over it is back to reality for him and his players.
That means journeys to places like Barnet, Torquay and Grimsby, where
conditions are less than desirable, attendances are sparse and few people
outside the two clubs playing each other have any interest in the outcome.
But Ince will be glad when the furore over the Chelsea game is out of the
way and he can concentrate once again on his real aim - to preserve
Macclesfield's League status.
"I want my players to embrace the experience at Chelsea," he added. "But
this game isn't important to me. Keeping Macclesfield in the League is
important to me. I'll be glad when this match is gone, and we'll have to
focus our attention on Barnet, our next League game."This interview appeared in
the Daily Mirror, London - 5th January 2007.